How Will You Meet Allah? Aisha's Hadith Explained
The Hadith of Desiring Allah's Meeting: Understanding Death and the Afterlife
Summary
This lecture from the Muslim Community Center of Tucson discusses a hadith from Sahih Muslim narrated by Aisha about the Prophet's statement regarding meeting Allah. Sh. Ali Mashhour emphasizes Aisha's critical role in Islamic jurisprudence, noting that she transmitted approximately one-fourth of all Islamic rulings and was among the seven major hadith narrators. The core hadith addresses the concept of desiring to meet Allah, with the Prophet explaining that this doesn't mean disliking death in the worldly sense, but rather one's spiritual state when facing death.
Sh. Ali Mashhour provides detailed explanation of the death process according to Islamic teachings, describing how angels surround the dying person and present them with either their place in paradise or hellfire. For believers, the soul exits peacefully like water from a vessel, while for disbelievers, the soul is extracted painfully like wet wool from thorns. The lecturer clarifies that whether death appears painless or agonizing to observers is irrelevant; what matters is the person's righteousness and relationship with Allah, which determines their actual experience at that critical moment. The hadith ultimately serves as an adage to live by, encouraging believers to maintain righteousness to ensure a peaceful meeting with Allah.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Continuing in Riyadh al-Salihin and tonight we'd to discuss a narration which has been transmitted to us by way of Aisha the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam's wife and virgin bride the most beloved of his wives to him also the youngest of his wives. and Aisha is not just some silly child that grew up amongst the companions and them. She wasn't just some passive presence in the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam's life. Ibn Hajar al-Hajar states in al-Fath Fath al-Bari he says that Aisha is responsible for transmitting 1/4 of all the rulings of Islam. I don't think that we can truly understand the magnitude of that statement. One single person who when the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam passed away, she was 18 years old when he passed away. So when when he died, she was 18. Imagine an 18-year-old today. I mean, there's no comparison. This female, this wife of the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam is responsible for transmitting 1/4 of all of the rulings of Islam. And that is an incredible feat on its own. But, being that it comes from Ibn Hajar rahimahullah, he's referred to as al-hafiz. He was known for his expansive studies of the Quran and Sunnah to the point that out of 1,500 years of scholars in the in the millions, when you say al-hafiz, it is Ibn Hajar. This man tells us that Aisha is responsible for 1/4 of all of the ahkam. And not only that, but she is one of the seven most memorized of all the companions of the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. So, when we say, "Who are the the companions that narrate the most narrations?" There seven of them. These seven are referred to as the seven major narrators of Hadith. And Aisha radiAllahu anha is one of them. One of them is Abu Hurairah. This is to give you an example as to how much what we know today hinges on what Aisha radiAllahu anha observed, memorized, learned, and then continued to narrate and transmit to us and teach to her generation so thoroughly that a fourth of all rulings of Islam hinge on her testimony and 1/7 or a little bit less of all narrations of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam come from the narration of Aisha. In Sahih Muslim, Aisha radiyallahu anha narrated that the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said one day, "Man ahabb liqa Allah ahabb Allah liqa'ahu. Wa man kariha liqa Allah kariha Allah liqa'ahu." He said, "Whoever longs for the meeting of Allah, whoever wishes to meet Allah, Allah wishes for his meeting in turn, in response. And whoever dislikes the notion of meeting Allah, Allah in turn dislikes the notion of meeting them." Now, this is a statement that many people would just hear from the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, memorize it, and continue to transmit it. But Aisha radiyallahu anha, she inquires, she asks because immediately the idea comes into a person's mind that when is the only time any one of us will be able to meet Allah? What has to happen for us to meet Allah? You have to die. So, if I dislike dying, if I go out of my way way to avoid death, does that mean that I am avoiding Allah's meeting? Does that mean that I do not want to meet Allah because I do not necessarily want to die? This is a connection that Aisha made immediately. Most people would not make this connection immediately. And so Aisha she immediately upon hearing this says, She said, "Oh messenger of Allah." He says, "Whoever desires Allah's meeting, Allah desires to meet him. Whoever does not desire, whoever dislikes the notion of meeting Allah, Allah in turn dislikes the notion of meeting him." So she says, "Is this the same as disliking death? Because there's not one of us except that he or she naturally flees from death. We dislike it." Every one of us, I I believe. I can speak for myself. If an angel were to descend right now and say, "You are going to die tonight. Pack your bags." I wouldn't get up and dance about that. I'd be pretty bummed out. Why? Not because I don't want to meet Allah. It's because of the baggage that I'm bringing with me to this meeting. Right? This is the problem. The problem isn't the believer doesn't want to meet Allah. The problem isn't that the person is necessarily afraid of death or its process, which in itself is a very grueling process. However, the problem is all of the baggage you bring with you to that meeting. That presents a problem. And so Aisha says, "Oh messenger of Allah, is that the same as disliking death because all of us dislike the notion of death? He says, "Laisa kadhaliki." Aw qala laisa kadhalika.
[Silence]
And so, she said she asked her question, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam responds by saying, "That's not what is intended. Rather, what's intended is that the believer, when he is at the brink of death, when his soul is being prepared by the angels of death to be extracted from his body, when the angel of death is there looming over him, retrieving his soul from amongst his flesh and bones, he will be given glad tidings of the mercy of Allah and the pleasure of Allah and the paradise of Allah. And so he will then be happy and long for the meeting of Allah. However, and then in turn Allah will love his meeting. However, the disbeliever when he is in that position he will be told of the punishment of Allah and the impending anger of Allah that he is about to enter into. And he will in turn hate the notion of meeting Allah and Allah will in turn hate the notion of meeting him. And this is something which is specific to this ummah. Of all the nations Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us that this nation is specific in that when the angels of death come to collect and harvest the person's soul they will show this person his place in paradise or in the hellfire. And so as the person is laying there or whatever the situation is, even if their death is what they say sudden and painless. You know the painless death? Was he in pain when he died? No, he didn't have any pain. You weren't there, I wasn't there. time is very relative. A moment in our time as we are experiencing it now could be a thousand moments to the person who is in the process of dying. But what we do know is that the prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us that every one of us will go through a very lengthy process in dying. He tells us in the narration of when a person is about to be to have his soul retrieved the angels of death will surround this person as far as his eye can see. That is all he can see is the angels around him. And they will prepare this person's soul for retrieval. And one of the angels will stand there with a a shroud either of musk or a shroud of fire. Then when it is the precise moment that that person is to die. The angel of death will come and will retrieve this soul. And will immediately place this soul into the shroud of musk or the shroud of fire. Now this process the prophet tells us that when this angel descends and when this angel comes he will say to the believer As Allah mentions in Surat al-Fajr in so many words all righteous soul come out of that body and come into the pleasure of your Lord and the bounty of your Lord and the paradise of your Lord. And when the believer hears this, the soul will become tranquil and will willingly come out of the body, this flesh and bone. And the prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam tells us that the believer's soul will come out the last drops of water come out of a vase. It's not tight. Just drips right out, right naturally. Nothing is more natural in the world. And conversely the disbeliever when he is told by the angel of death, "Come out Come out and come into the anger of your Lord, the damnation of your Lord, the displeasure of your Lord, the judgment of your Lord." The soul will become afraid and disperse into the extremities of the body. Upon which the angel of death will then rip this soul from the body just like cotton or wool that is wet that gets stuck in a thorn bush is ripped out. This is the description that the prophet gives us, Sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And so at this moment the believer will see his place of paradise, the disbeliever will see his place of damnation, and at that critical moment the person will either love the meeting of Allah or hate it. And Allah will in turn love or hate this person's meeting. And this is what is meant by the statement that the prophet gives us here. This is an adage. This is a proverb, right? This is something to live by. These are words to live by. You know how we have adages? Better safe than sorry. Better to have and not need than to need and not have, right? We have adages that we live by. They help us to make decisions. Here's an adage. Whoever loves Allah Whoever desires Allah's meeting, Allah will desire his meeting. And whoever hates to meet Allah, Allah hates to meet him as well. That is because at that critical moment when we see people dying suddenly, that is only us seeing that. This person goes through the same process of death that every other person goes through. To us it seems a moment. To them it may seem like a week, a month. We don't know. We're only going to know when we're on that in that position, and every one of us is going to be in that position. And.
[Arabic recitation]
Which we will end with. And that is the following. This idea of having a painless death or having an agonizing death, a painful or a painless death, that is only up until the point when a person time has come when they will be when they will die. When the angels appear, pain or painless is not dictated by the violence or lack thereof that a person dies under. It is dictated by that person's position with Allah. If they are righteous person, painless. And if they are to the contrary, all of the pain which you could never imagine. This is the reality of death that we cannot see. You can't see what's really going on with the person as he's dying. That's something that is the most intimate thing between a person and his creator is when he is dying. When he is born, when he is dying, and when he is.
[Arabic recitation]
What are you going I saw you were trying to keep Who's yourself? Assalam alaykum.